The Black Spider Talons Ninja (地蜘蛛鉤忍 Jigumo kaginin?) is an enemy in Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, first seen in Chapter 1: Forest of Shadows.
They make a return in Ninja Gaiden II, first encountered in Chapter 1: Sky City Tokyo. They also appear in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus, and Ninja Gaiden II: Black.
They come back in Ninja Gaiden 3, fought on Day 5. They are also featured in Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge.
They reappear in Ninja Gaiden 4.
Description[]
Talons Ninja don a web patterned shinobi attire, with the metal plates around the shoulders and legs also depicting a spider, the arachnid motif repeated on their belt buckle and headband. Their visage is hidden by a hood wrapped around a demonic war mask. They come equipped with lengthy, three-digit jointed claws on each hand.
When turned into a Fiend, the skin of Talons Ninja turns a cadaveric blue through their tattered white robes. Their hooded face morphs into the war mask they used to wear, featuring a fanged slit-mouth and multiple eyes. Sharp spikes burst out of their arm plates and their ankles and torso are bound by chains.
The black robed variant is called "Shadow Talons Ninja" (暗果鉤忍 Anka kōnin?), while the demonic counterpart is known as "Fiend Claw Ninja" (鬼鉤忍 Oni kōnin?).
Behavior[]
Talons Ninja overwhelm their target by attacking in groups, often alongside Sword Ninja and Phantom Ninja, with only a couple of them actually engaging Ryu Hayabusa at melee range at any time, while the rest circle around him tossing Shuriken. When alone, they'll generally retreat after attacking, creating distance by backflipping while throwing a triple barrage of ninja stars. Both Shadow and Fiend Talons Ninja are armed with Incendiary Shuriken, making any of their projectile attacks ever so much deadlier. They also boast significant defensive capabilities, as their prone to evade combos and footstool jumps, and even finishing blows when wounded.
Once injured, Talons Ninja will continue fighting relentlessly, but when the chance presents itself, they might throw themselves at Hayabusa in a desperate kamikaze attempt. Fiend variants are bloodthirsty and resentful to the point they're willing to sacrifice an entire arm by exploding it in Ryu's face.
Attacks[]
- Running Slash: runs at Hayabusa slashing with both talons.
- Jumping Slash: jumps at Hayabusa slashing with both talons.
- Rolling Uppercut: rolls leftward of Hayabusa and slashes upward with a single talon.
- Rolling Combo: rolls rightward of Hayabusa and slashes twice.
- Cartwheel Slash: slashes vertically three-times.
- 4-Hit Combo: slash with the right talon, left talon, stabs with right and upward with left.
- 4-Hit Backflip Combo: slashes upward with both talons, then downward with only the right, upward and upward again with both talons while backflipping. Last hit Guard Breaks.
- 8-Hit Combo: slashes eight-times in quick succession.
- Throw Attack: at close range, grabs Hayabusa with his right talon and slashes at his face with the left and again with the right while backflipping.
- Projectile Attack: tosses a Shuriken. Shadow and Fiend variants carry Incendiary Shuriken.
- Backflip Toss: backflips while tossing three Shurikens. Disabled when dismembered.
- Jumping Combo Throw: leaps at Hayabusa, throwing him onto the ground, and starts stabbing him with his talon. If not escaped prior to the fifth stab, he'll suicide bomb. Only used when dismembered of his left arm.
- Jumping Kamikaze Throw: leaps at Hayabusa and suicide bombs. Only used when dismembered of his right arm.
- Desperation Slash: performs a single slash with his talons while crawling. Only used when dismembered of a leg.
- Desperation Throw: grabs Hayabusa's ankle while crawling, throwing him onto the ground, and starts slashing at him with his talon. If not escaped prior to the eighth slash, he'll suicide bomb. Only used when dismembered of a leg.
- Sacrifice Throw: stabs Hayabusa in the stomach with one of his talons and blows his own arm off. Only used by the Fiend variant. May be used from neutral or as a combo ender.
Strategy[]
While regular Talons Ninja aren't much more of a threat than Sword Ninja, the Shadow variant is extremely dangerous and ought to be disposed of as quickly as possible. For that, open them up to an Obliteration Technique (Near an injured enemy — Strong Attack) by dismembering them with any rapid combo like the Dragon Sword's Tiger Roar (Quick, Quick, Strong Attack) or single attack such as the Falcon's Talons' Thunderous Earth (→ Strong Attack), or direct your jump at them with Wind Run (Jump + Quick Attack) and toss them against a wall with the Guillotine Throw (While jumping near enemy — Jump + Quick Attack), and take any chance you can to counter their attacks, with the Dragon Sword's Deep Crimson (While blocking — Quick, Quick Attack) or Vigoorian Flail's Warrior of Flight (While blocking — Quick Attack) for example. At Lv2, a faster Izuna Drop is available for both the Lunar Staff (While jumping — Quick, Quick, Strong Attack) and Falcon's Talons (While jumping towards enemy — Strong, Quick, Strong Attack), but be wary enemies are still likely to punish you with a Throw Attack upon landing. Flying Swallow has a discreet chance of beheading a Talons Ninja when executed at the right angle, and will be a guaranteed Instant Kill if it connects while they're backflipping. Once enough Essence orbs are gathered around the battlefield — for which you can also destroy environmental props like the wooden bucket in the starting fight —, unleash a devastating Ultimate Technique, with the Lv2 Lunar Staff's Hazy Shadow (↻ Hold Strong Attack, Release with Essence) or the Tonfa's Spring Wind (Hold Strong Attack, Release with Essence). In a pinch, The Art of the Wind Blades Ninpo will dismember all the Ninja surrounding Ryu, and at Lv3 it will downright decimate them.
However, against these restless warriors and their barrage of Incendiary Shuriken, even more important than a powerful offense is a solid defense. While these projectiles can be blocked safely, Talons Ninja will often toss them around Ryu to circumvent his guard, especially since their accuracy is decreased while they're offscreen. Explosive kunai detonate on impact with any surface, Guard Breaking and Crushing which means exposing Ryu to be hit by any follow-up projectile, so avoid keeping your back to a wall to minimize collateral damage and be ready to Reverse Wind (Left Trigger + Left Analogue Stick) dash whenever one blows up at your feet. Even when Ryu is completely immune to damage as he performs an Izuna Drop, Incendiary Shuriken can still latch onto him, soon to go off upon landing. As such, one needs to accumulate as many Invincibility Frames as possible by chaining techniques that grant them like Reverse Wind, Wind Run, Wind Path, Guillotine Throw, Obliteration Technique, Flying Swallow and Flying Bird Flip (While jumping against a wall — Jump) attacks. Weapon specific Techniques that offer temporary invincibility are the Dragon Sword's Windmill Slash (→ Quick Attack), the Dual Katana's Rise to Heaven (↻ Strong Attack), the Kusari-gama's Demon Cutter (→ Strong Attack), the Eclipse Scythe's Infinite Sacrifice (While jumping forward — Hold Strong Attack, release when hitting an enemy) and the Tonfa's Overlapping Flames (↻ Strong Attack) and Heavenly Justice (During combo — Jump or Left Trigger + Left Analogue Stick), to name a few.
The Fiend variant has significantly more Health, as such the Falcon's Talons' Izuna Drop isn't enough to Instant Kill them, the Lunar Staff's version has to be employed. One does not need to avoid their Sacrifice Throw for its mere damage, but also because a Fiend Ninja who has performed that move won't drop any Essence upon death. Thus making it harder to gather enough resources to deal with the whole horde.
Gallery[]
